The Wild Wolf Pup (6 page)

“
Hello, everybody! Happy Halloween to you all! The costume parade is about to begin, so
please could you all follow the path that has been lined with special silver balloons. It will take you past the zebras, the flamingos and the grizzly bears, and then finish outside the gift shop. I will be watching carefully to judge the best costume and I will announce the winner after the concert, which will come next!
”

Jack looked very excited, and Nicola jumped up and down, clapping her hands and squealing eagerly. “I can’t wait!” she said.

But Zoe bit her lip, suddenly feeling very nervous. She had managed to put the concert out of her mind for most of the evening, but now it was almost here, she felt more scared than ever before. She tried her best to smile at Jack and Nicola as they started walking in the costume parade, not wanting them to guess that
anything was wrong.

Stephanie and Will, two of the Rescue Zoo keepers, were handing out bars of chocolate and lollies along the path, so they all helped themselves. A little bit further along, another keeper called Frankie was snapping photographs to put on the zoo’s website, and called out, “You three look fantastic! Can I have a photo of you together, please?”

Jack held up his hook and growled like a pirate, while Nicola held her arms high above her head and arranged her feet like a ballerina, and Zoe put her head back and howled like a real wolf.

Suddenly Meep’s ears pricked up. “Zoe, listen!” he squeaked. “Can you hear that? I think it’s Shadow!”

Zoe listened and realised she
could
hear another howl over the cheery chatter of the crowd – but this one sounded very sad.

“We’ve got a few minutes before the concert,” she whispered to Meep. “Let’s see if we can slip away and go to check that he’s OK. His enclosure is only round the corner.” She turned to her friends. “Back in a minute!” she said to Jack and Nicola. “I just, um, forgot something I need for
the concert.”

“OK, Zoe. Don’t be long or you’ll miss it!” said Nicola.

Zoe and Meep squeezed through the crowd and ducked down an empty pathway that they knew would take them straight to Shadow. When they reached the enclosure, Zoe used her special necklace to open the gate and slip inside. As soon as the little wolf saw them, he bounded straight over to Zoe and Meep, barking happily.

“Hi, Shadow!” said Zoe, kneeling down to hug him. “I’m really sorry we couldn’t stay yesterday.

What do you think of my costume?”

Shadow yapped excitedly, his little tail wagging. Zoe smiled. “Thank you! I’m glad you like it,” she said. “Listen, Shadow – about your family. Don’t worry about that, because today we’re—”

Zoe was about to explain all about the plan to raise money for Shadow’s family to come over to the zoo, but just then she heard the crackle of the loudspeaker again.

“
Wonderful costumes, everyone!
” came Great-Uncle Horace’s voice. “
Now, please make your way to the green in front of the gift shop – it’s time for the concert!
”

Just then, Ethan rushed down the path towards the wolf enclosure.

“Oh! Hi, Zoe!” he called, sounding surprised to see her. “Shouldn’t you be
over at the concert area now?”

Shadow whined curiously, wanting to know what was going on. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, Shadow, I promise,” Zoe whispered, then turned to smile shakily at Ethan. She rushed back down the path to join the rest of her class. This was really it!

Chapter Eight

Howling Halloween

“Zoe, there you are!” said Miss Hawkins, spotting Zoe and ushering her to her place. “We thought you were going to miss it!”

Zoe’s class were standing in two lines, the people in the back line standing on a bench so that they could see. Three
microphones on stands had been set up in front of them, like at a real concert. As Zoe squeezed in between Nicola and Jack, she glanced around nervously and almost wished she
had
missed it. The zoo was completely full, and it seemed like thousands of people were staring right at Zoe, even though she knew it couldn’t really be that many.

Lucy stepped up to the front, smiling encouragingly at Zoe, and spoke into one of the microphones. “Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Rescue Zoo Halloween Spooktacular, and thank you all very much for coming. As you know, we’re raising money tonight so that we can reunite our newest animal with his family. We thought we would introduce you to him, to thank you all for being so
generous already.”

There was a ripple of excitement through the crowd as Ethan brought Shadow to the front and stood next to Lucy. Zoe realised that must have been why Ethan had come over to Shadow’s enclosure in such a hurry.

“Oh wow, he’s so cute!” Nicola said, grinning over at Zoe.

“This is Shadow, the grey wolf pup, who travelled here all the way from Alaska,” Ethan announced.

Shadow gave an excited bark and a little howl, and everyone in the crowd laughed.

“Now, please give a special round of applause for Class Three from our local school, who are going to perform a Halloween song,” added Lucy. “Our
zookeepers will be bringing collection buckets round during the song, in case you’d like to make a donation.”

The crowd clapped as Miss Hawkins started the music and Zoe’s class took a deep breath. Miss Hawkins had chosen a couple of lines for each pair to sing by themselves. Then they were all supposed to join in together for the chorus.

Jenna and Sareeta started singing.

“
Spiders and slugs, creeping on the wall
…”

Zoe and Nicola were going to be singing together next, and when it got to their lines, Zoe felt her knees wobble.

“
Wild grey wolves, running through the trees
…” she began very quietly, hearing Nicola sing much more loudly next to her.

Then she heard a little howl. Shadow was joining in! Zoe turned and saw the wolf pup wagging his tail happily, and looking straight at her with bright eyes.
The crowd chuckled, and one little boy said, “They’ve taught the wolf how to sing along too! That’s so clever!”

Zoe smiled at Shadow, and as the little pup howled happily again, she felt confident enough to sing the next line more loudly. Seeing Shadow right there reminded her why she was singing in the first place, and she really wanted to do her best. Then it was time for the whole class to sing the chorus, and Shadow burst into an even more enthusiastic howl as he heard the song get louder, and Zoe raised her voice even louder too, grinning widely.

When the song finished, the audience cheered and clapped, and some people even called for them to sing it all over again! Zoe found herself beaming,
relieved it was over – but she also realised that she’d enjoyed herself. Singing wasn’t so bad if you had friends to sing along with you!

Meep scampered over from where he had been perched with Lucy, watching the performance. “Zoe, you did it!” he squeaked excitedly, hopping up on to Zoe’s shoulder and giving her a cuddle. “Hooray!”

Miss Hawkins stepped up to the microphone then, smiling. “Thank you! If you liked our song, please do make a donation to help us bring Shadow’s pack over to the zoo.”

She pointed to the collection buckets that the zookeepers were still carrying around the crowd. Zoe grinned as she saw people digging into their pockets
and putting money into them. Soon they looked very full!

Ethan brought Shadow over to Zoe, and she held him carefully in her arms and gave him a hug. “Thanks for your help, Shadow,” she whispered in his ear.

Shadow rubbed his furry head against Zoe’s cheek and barked happily. Zoe laughed. “Howling with your pack is your favourite thing?” she said. “
Now
I understand why you’ve been howling so much – and why you wanted to join in with our singing!”

“Who’s that?” asked Jack, nudging Zoe as someone dressed in a bright-blue bird costume stepped up to the microphone. Zoe frowned, and then started laughing as she realised who it was – and who he’d come as! “That’s Great-Uncle Horace!”
she explained through a laugh. “I think he’s dressed as a giant version of his pet hyacinth macaw, Kiki!”

“That was splendid! Well done to all of you!” exclaimed Great-Uncle Horace. “Now it’s time to announce the prize for the best costume. This was a very hard decision, but I have picked a winner! This person will be invited to come to the Rescue Zoo and help feed our fantastic penguins!

And the winner is …” He paused dramatically and then smiled. “… the zombie ballerina over here! Congratulations!”

Nicola’s eyes almost popped out of her head, she was so surprised. “I won!” she gasped. “I get to come and feed the penguins. I can’t believe it!”

“Now, I have another announcement to make!” Great-Uncle Horace continued. “I’m delighted to say that it looks as if we’ll have raised enough money from this evening to fly the rest of Shadow’s pack to the Rescue Zoo to be looked after here alongside him! Thank you all for being so generous. You are all invited back to the zoo to meet the whole pack once they are happily settled into their new home!”

The audience cheered and clapped. Zoe felt a huge grin spreading over her face and cuddled Shadow even closer. “Did you hear that, Shadow?” she whispered. “Your family are coming to the Rescue Zoo! Soon you’ll all be able to howl together again!”

The little wolf yapped happily and jumoed up and down excitedly.

“Now, please enjoy the rest of your evening!” said Great-Uncle Horace. “We have a home-made gingerbread stall that way. There’s apple-bobbing over there. Over that way is the pin-the-tail-on-the-wolf stand! And if you would like to find out more about any of our wonderful animals, please ask one of our zookeepers, who will be delighted to help! Happy Halloween, everyone!”

“
Awoooooooooh!
”

The air was filled with howls as Zoe and Meep raced through the zoo towards Shadow’s enclosure – but this time, they knew those howls didn’t belong just to Shadow. It was three weeks later, and today was the day that Shadow’s pack arrived at the Rescue Zoo!

Great-Uncle Horace had sent a message to Lucy using his walkie-talkie, just as Lucy and Zoe were finishing their breakfast. “The helicopter is about to land outside Shadow’s enclosure! Tell Zoe to meet us there!” he’d said – so Zoe and Meep were running as fast as they possibly could!

The whole zoo had seen the helicopter circling over the zoo before it landed, and
Zoe heard animals all around her making their most friendly, welcoming noises.

“Yes, they’re really here!” Zoe called happily to the excited chimpanzees, who called out to her as she passed their enclosure. “Isn’t it brilliant?”

Zoe and Meep rushed around the corner just as Great-Uncle Horace and Ethan were carrying two large wooden crate sinto the wolf enclosure. The eager howling sound was coming from inside the crates, and Shadow was leaping all over his enclosure, barking excitedly, his tail wagging so fast it was almost a blur!

Carefully, Ethan opened the first crate, and a wolf with dark-grey markings on his side, a bit bigger than Shadow, ran out. He bounded straight over to Shadow and the two wolves nuzzled each other
happily, then began to play-fight.

“That must be Shadow’s big brother!” Zoe whispered to Meep.

Both wolves howled together, and then, as Ethan opened the second crate, they were joined by another wolf and two adorable babies! They nuzzled each other and made soft howling noises.

“Meep, I think I understand what
this
howling means,” Zoe added. “Shadow
and his family are happy to be back together!”

“I’m happy too!” squealed Meep, bouncing up and down. “And I’m glad Shadow has his family to play with now, instead of tiny little me!”

Zoe giggled. “I can’t wait to meet them all,” she said. “And I can’t wait to meet whatever animal Great-Uncle Horace brings home next!”